KaskoSan is recruiting sessional Romani-speaking Community Advocates for Empowering Roma Communities in Greater Manchester, our three-year project funded by The National Lottery Community Fund.
We are particularly encouraging applications from Roma people who have established and trusted relationships with Romani communities in Oldham, Rochdale and Bolton.
Community Advocates will be recruited from different Roma communities according to community need, language, community connections and individual availability.
Role: Sessional Community Advocate
Rate: £160 per day, plus agreed travel expenses
Period: 1 October 2026 to 31 July 2029
Main areas: Oldham, Rochdale and Bolton
Additional outreach: Bury, Salford and Levenshulme
Reports to: Project Manager
No formal qualifications required
DBS: Required and arranged by KaskoSan
Job adverts in three Romani dialects
We first advertised these opportunities on the KaskoSan radio programme on 26 August 2026 in three Romani dialects.
You can listen to extracts from the original broadcast below and are welcome to share this blog and the audio clips with anyone you think may be interested.
Carpathian Romani
Lovari Romani
Ursari Romani
About the Community Advocate role
Community Advocates are trusted bridges between Roma communities, KaskoSan and other services.
Their most important role is to build and maintain trusted relationships with individuals and families who may otherwise find it difficult to access support.
Community Advocates will work face to face and online with Roma individuals and families. They will maintain regular contact within their communities, listen to people, identify needs and barriers, gather information about cases and help connect people with appropriate support.
They are not expected to resolve complex problems on their own.
Community Advocates will work in close contact with the Project Manager, sharing identified needs and cases and asking for support whenever an issue requires further action. More complex cases will be escalated to the Project Manager, who will coordinate the appropriate response and, where necessary, referral to another service.
Where appropriate, the Community Advocate and Project Manager may continue supporting the individual through the referral process, including accompanying them to appointments or meetings and helping communication between the individual and the organisation involved.
The aim is not simply to give somebody the details of another service. We want to help people access support safely and confidently and remain connected to them through the process.
This reflects the project’s wider model of connecting people into advocacy, casework and referral pathways through trusted community relationships.
What will Community Advocates do?
Depending on community need, Community Advocates will:
- maintain regular contact with Roma individuals and families in their community;
- be visible, approachable and accessible within trusted community settings;
- carry out outreach and, where appropriate, home visits;
- communicate with families face to face, by telephone and through online communication;
- listen to families and identify needs, concerns and barriers to accessing services;
- record relevant information about contacts, needs and emerging issues;
- explain services and information in clear, culturally appropriate and accessible ways;
- help people understand letters and official communications;
- support basic practical tasks such as looking up information online, preparing paperwork and booking appointments;
- use digital translation and communication tools where appropriate;
- encourage and facilitate access to appropriate support, advocacy and referral pathways;
- accompany individuals to appointments where appropriate;
- identify issues requiring additional support and raise them with the Project Manager;
- identify safeguarding concerns and immediately escalate them through KaskoSan’s safeguarding procedures;
- contribute to Community Conversations and other structured community engagement;
- identify recurring barriers, including language exclusion, discrimination, antigypsyism and difficulties in the way services are designed or delivered; and
- share community insights and emerging issues with the Project Manager and wider KaskoSan team.
These responsibilities reflect the funded Reaching Communities delivery model, which includes practical support such as understanding official communication, preparing paperwork, booking and attending appointments, explaining services and encouraging access to referral pathways.
Community Advocates will receive training and support to develop these practical skills, including the appropriate use of digital translation and communication tools and recognising when a matter needs to be escalated.
Trust, Romanipe and Pachiv
Trust is at the heart of this role.
KaskoSan’s approach to Roma community engagement is informed by Romanipe and Pachiv and by an understanding of how experiences and fear of antigypsyism can affect people’s willingness to engage openly with organisations and services.
Community Advocates help create trusted and culturally safe spaces where individuals and families feel able to speak openly about their circumstances, concerns and needs.
For this reason, we are looking for people with lived experience as Roma, a deep familiarity with Romanipe and Pachiv, and established trust within the communities they work with.
The Community Advocate does not replace specialist services. Their role is to help build the bridge of trust that enables individuals and families to engage, communicate their needs and access the right support.
The Reaching Communities project itself is built around trusted, culturally appropriate points of contact through which families can raise concerns, identify barriers and safely access advocacy, casework and referral pathways.
Who are we looking for?
We particularly welcome applications from people who:
- have lived experience as Roma;
- speak Ursari, Lovari or Carpathian Romani;
- have established and trusted relationships with Roma communities in Oldham, Rochdale and/or Bolton;
- have a deep familiarity with Romanipe and Pachiv;
- understand the importance of trust when working with Roma individuals and families;
- understand how antigypsyism, discrimination and fear or mistrust of institutions can create barriers to accessing support;
- are approachable and good listeners;
- can communicate sensitively and respectfully with individuals and families;
- understand the diversity between different Roma communities;
- can maintain confidentiality and appropriate boundaries;
- are reliable and willing to learn;
- can work closely with the Project Manager and ask for support when needed;
- are willing to undertake training and follow KaskoSan’s safeguarding procedures; and
- want to help Roma families connect with appropriate services, support and opportunities.
Having trusted relationships with Roma communities in Bury, Salford or Levenshulme would also be useful, but is not essential.
You do not need a driving licence or your own vehicle for this role.
No formal qualifications are required
Formal qualifications are not an essential requirement.
We are interested in your lived experience, the Romani language you speak, your understanding of your community, the trust people place in you and your ability to build relationships.
You do not need to have previously worked under the title Community Advocate.
You may already have valuable experience from supporting people informally.
For example, community members may already come to you for information or advice. You may help people understand letters, find information, communicate with organisations, attend appointments or find the right place to ask for help.
Experience of already providing informal support to individuals and families within your community would be an advantage.
This approach is consistent with the Reaching Communities project, which specifically recruits Community Advocates from within communities on the basis of trust, lived experience and their ability to work effectively with families, recognising the value of deep cultural understanding, community relationships and Romani language skills.
Where will Community Advocates work?
Our three core areas are:
Oldham
Rochdale
Bolton
We are encouraging applications from people who have established and trusted connections with Roma communities in one or more of these areas.
The project will also develop outreach and community engagement in Bury, Salford and Levenshulme. Community Advocates may work alongside KaskoSan staff to help build relationships, identify needs and develop community engagement in these areas.
Applicants do not need to have connections across all six locations.
We want to hear from different Roma communities
Roma communities across Greater Manchester are diverse.
For this reason, KaskoSan is not limiting this recruitment to three individual people.
We want to hear from suitable applicants from different Roma communities who can bring different language skills, trusted community relationships and lived experience to the project.
Community Advocates will be engaged according to identified community need, language and community connections, project requirements and individual availability.
This allows KaskoSan to match Community Advocates appropriately with the communities and families they are supporting, while maintaining continuity and trust.
Training and ongoing support
Community Advocates will report to and work closely with KaskoSan’s Project Manager.
They will receive induction, ongoing support and relevant training, including areas such as:
- safeguarding;
- advocacy;
- cultural mediation;
- confidentiality and professional boundaries;
- recording contacts and outcomes;
- identifying and escalating concerns;
- using online information and communication resources; and
- using digital translation tools appropriately.
Community Advocates are not expected to know everything or deal with difficult cases alone.
Regular contact with the Project Manager is an important part of the role. Advocates will both report identified needs and request support when families require further intervention.
A DBS check will be required and will be organised by KaskoSan.
Interested? Talk to us
We welcome questions, suggestions and expressions of interest.
If you would like to know more about becoming a Community Advocate, or would like support to apply, you can contact us:
Phone / WhatsApp: 07422 617894
Email: juice@kaskosan.org
Facebook: Send us a private message through the KaskoSan Facebook page.
You can contact us in English or Romani.
If you have little or no experience of formal job applications, this should not prevent you from expressing your interest. We can explain the application process and provide practical support where needed.
How to apply
For the first recruitment round, we encourage expressions of interest and applications by:
Monday 21 September 2026 at 5:00 pm.
However, we will continue to welcome expressions of interest after this date.
As the project develops, we may need additional Community Advocates with different Romani language skills, community relationships or availability. We therefore welcome contact from suitable people throughout the project.
To ask questions, express your interest or request support to apply:
Phone / WhatsApp: 07422 617894
Email: juice@kaskosan.org
Facebook: Message the KaskoSan Facebook page.
Please help us share this opportunity
If you work with Roma communities or come into contact with Romani speakers in Greater Manchester, please help us circulate this opportunity.
Please share this blog and the relevant Romani audio clip with anyone who may be interested.
We particularly welcome support in reaching Romani speakers with trusted community connections in Oldham, Rochdale and Bolton.
Potential applicants can contact KaskoSan directly with questions, to express their interest or to ask for support with applying.
About the project
Empowering Roma Communities in Greater Manchester is a three-year KaskoSan project funded by The National Lottery Community Fund.
The project uses a structured, community-led model combining outreach, advocacy, casework and system-level change, with sessional Community Advocates supported by volunteers and coordinated by a Project Manager.
Its core delivery areas are Bolton, Oldham and Rochdale, with additional engagement developing in other parts of Greater Manchester as outreach deepens.
Empowering Roma Communities in Greater Manchester is funded by The National Lottery Community Fund, thanks to National Lottery players.
